Interview Episodes

This summer, the Summer Olympics return to Paris, France for the first time since the 1924 games that were shown in the classic movie Chariots of Fire. So in our first episode of 2024, we'll look forward to warmer days as Jill and Alison from my favorite Olympics/Paralympics podcast join us to dig into the true story behind Chariots of Fire. Learn more about the Olympics/Paralympics Follow Keep the Flame Alive: https://links.boatspodcast.com/296guest Did you enjoy this episode? Find everythin...

Why is Christmas on December 25th? Why is a tree part of the tradition? Where did the idea of giving gifts come from? On today's episode we'll go back to an interview with Heather LeFebvre from 2019 to learn more about the history of Christmas. Learn more about the true story Get Heather's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/293book See more of Heather's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/293guest Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything at: https://links.boatspodcast.com/293 Join the...

Alexander Mikaberidze is a historian and professor at Louisiana State University who specializes in Napoleonic studies. Today he'll join the podcast to dig deep into the historical accuracy of 2023's Napoleon. Learn more about the true story The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History: https://links.boatspodcast.com/290book Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace: https://links.boatspodcast.com/290kutuzov Also mentioned in this episode: The Burning of Moscow: Napoleon's Trail by Fire, 1812: https://links....

Author Scott Hoffman takes us inside how well the movies like Casino, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, and the TV series The Sopranos portray the Outfit and the Mafia. To hear more Mafia stories, pick up Scott's book called Inside. Get Scott's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/286book Jump to the movies we're talking about today 00:00 - Introduction 05:35 - Casino 23:22 - Goodfellas 51:29 - Donnie Brasco 56:40 - The Sopranos 01:45:34 - Conclusion Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything...

Classic film historian Scott Eyman's new book is out today! It's called Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex and Politics Collided, so today we'll be chatting with Scott about Charlie Chaplin's life as it was depicted in the 1992 biopic from Richard Attenborough. Learn more about the true story Get Scott's new book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/283book See more of Scott's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/283guest Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything at: https://links.boats...

We travel back to the 1993 film Gettysburg along with military historian and author Gregory J.W. Urwin to find out how well it does showing the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Learn more about the true story Get Gregory's book Custer Victorious: https://links.boatspodcast.com/280book Gettysburg by Stephen W. Sears: https://links.boatspodcast.com/280searsbook Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo: https://links.boatspodcast.com/280guelzobook Did you enjoy this episode? Fi...

Conspiracies still swirl around the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Many of those were depicted in Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK, and today we'll dig deep into the true story with historian Marty Morgan. Mentioned in this episode Marty on YouTube: https://links.boatspodcast.com/274guest Look for Marty on The UnXplained with William Shatner: https://links.boatspodcast.com/274unxplained Historical tours: https://links.boatspodcast.com/274tours Get Marty's book abo...

Historian and author Gregory J.W. Urwin joins Based on a True Story to separate fact from fiction in the 1970 satirical western Little Big Man. Learn more about the true story Get Gregory's book Custer Victorious: https://links.boatspodcast.com/268book Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything at: https://links.boatspodcast.com/268 Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by suppo...

The author of Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire, Jens Heycke, joins Based on a True Story to help us separate fact from fiction in the film Hotel Rwanda. Learn more about the true story Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire: https://links.boatspodcast.com/264book Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything at: https://links.boatspodcast.com/264 Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove ...

Dan McMillan is the author of How Could This Happen: Explaining the Holocaust, and he's joining the podcast to help us separate fact from fiction in the film Schindler's List. Learn more about the true story How Could This Happen: Explaining the Holocaust: https://links.boatspodcast.com/261book Learn about Dan's work at Save Democracy in America: https://links.boatspodcast.com/261guest Did you enjoy this episode? Find everything at: https://links.boatspodcast.com/261 Join the BOATS Discord c...

Today's episode looks at how well the 1972 film Young Winston shows early years of Winston Churchill before he became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Joining us today is Furman Daniel, author of the upcoming book Mud, Blood, and Oil Paint: The Remarkable Year that Made Winston Churchill. Learn more about the true story Furman's book on Churchill isn't available yet, so until it is here are some of his other books. Patton: Battling with History: https://links.boatspodcast.com/259book ...

1998's The Thin Red Line is set during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. How well did it do telling the true story? Historian and author Marty Morgan joins Based on a True Story to help us separate fact from fiction in the film. Learn more about the true story Follow Marty on YouTube: https://links.boatspodcast.com/256guest Get Marty's book Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy: https://links.boatspodcast.com/256book Get Marty's book D-Day: A Photographic His...

We'll do something a little different today. Instead of learning about the history behind a movie, we'll learn about the history of Hollywood itself with a man who lived it: George Stevens, Jr. Learn more about the true story Get George's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/253book Listen to the audiobook: https://links.boatspodcast.com/253audiobook Did you enjoy this episode? Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Find the transcript and full show notes: h...

In the 2016 movie A United Kingdom, we learn about the controversial interracial marriage between Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams. How well did the movie do telling the true story? Author Jens Heycke joins Based on a True Story to help us separate fact from fiction in the film. Learn more about the true story Get Jens' new book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/238book Did you enjoy this episode? Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Find the transcript and fu...

Today we're learning about the 2019 movie Radioactive with Lauren Redniss, who is the artist and author who wrote the book of the same name that the movie was based on. Learn more about the true story Get Lauren's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/234book See more of Lauren's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/234guest Did you enjoy this episode? Join the BOATS Discord community: https://links.boatspodcast.com/discord Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.c...

Today we're learning about the 2006 movie One Night with the King. Dr. Michael LeFebvre is a Fellow at the Center for Pastor Theologians and an Old Testament scholar who will join us to separate fact from fiction in the movie. Learn more about the true story Reach Michael's article on Esther mentioned in the episode: https://links.boatspodcast.com/229article Listen to Michael's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/229podcast See more of Michael's books: https://links.boatspodcast.com/229gue...

Today we're learning about the 2004 movie King Arthur starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley. Professor Armstrong is a medievalist who has been published numerous times over decades for her work studying the legends of and surrounding King Arthur, and she'll join us today to separate fact from fiction in the movie. Learn more about the true story Get King Arthur: History and Legend: https://links.boatspodcast.com/225lecture Get Professor Armstrong's translation of Morte Darthur: https://links...

Today we're learning about the 1960 movie Spartacus that was directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons. We'll learn about the real history from Barry Strauss, author of The Spartacus War, an authoritative account of the true story. Learn more about the true story Get The Spartacus War: https://links.boatspodcast.com/221book Follow Barry's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/221podcast See all of Barry's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/221...

All Quiet on the Western Front has been adapted to the screen multiple times since World War I veteran Erich Maria Remarque published his novel of the same name in 1929. Today we'll learn about the newest adaptation that was released on Netflix on October 28, 2022. Helping us separate fact from fiction in the movie is Dr. Christopher Warren, who is the Vice President of Collections and Senior Curator at the National World War I Museum and Memorial. Learn more about the true story Visit the Nati...

Dahmer was watched for 865 million hours in the first 28 days, making it one of the most popular Netflix originals of all time. Today we'll dive into the true story behind the series with Robyn Maharaj, who wrote the book Grilling Dahmer: The Interrogation of "the Milwaukee Cannibal" with Patrick Kennedy, the detective in charge of interrogating Jeffrey Dahmer after his capture. Learn more about the true story Get Robyn's book Grilling Dahmer: https://links.boatspodcast.com/217book Follow Roby...

Disney has released five movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and while they're clearly fictional movies they pull from and have influenced our views of what the real pirates of history were like. New York Times Bestselling and Pulitzer Prize Finalist author Colin Woodard has a fantastic book called The Republic of Pirates and today he'll help us separate fact from fiction in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Learn more about the true story Get Colin's book The Republic of P...

The 2021 Amazon Original Movie Being the Ricardos tells us the story behind the scenes of the husband/wife team behind I Love Lucy, Dezi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) and Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman). To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we'll learn from Michael Karol, author of the book Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia. Learn more about the true story Get Michael's book Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia: https://links.boatspodcast.com/215book Find more of Michael's b...

Released in 2001, Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor is often criticized as being entirely inaccurate as it attempts to tell the story of the surprise attack on December 7th, 1941 that led to the United States entering World War II. Today we'll be joined by historian and author Marty Morgan to take a deep dive into what details the movie got right and what it got wrong. Learn more about the true story Watch Marty's documentary about the Oberg color film footage: https://links.boatspodcast.com/212oberg...

The classic TV series The X-Files is fiction, but there are some true stories and UFO cases that inspired episodes of the series. To help us learn more about them, we'll chat with UFO researcher and host of Our Strange Skies, Rob Kristoffersen. Learn more about the true story Listen to the episode Rob recommended: https://links.boatspodcast.com/211raechelseyes Follow the Our Strange Skies podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/211guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://ga...